


My Future is Yours

by robotictia4



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, Implied Mpreg, M/M, Married Couple, Married Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 17:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4634682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robotictia4/pseuds/robotictia4
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek and Stiles help out some faeries and get 'gifts' in return. </p>
<p>The problem is, neither of them know what their gifts are.</p>
<p>Derek goes to sleep and wakes up in a future where he's married to Stiles, with a family of their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Future is Yours

**Author's Note:**

> I went through this several different times to check for mistakes and I think I caught them all, but if you catch any mistakes then I'm sorry :( 
> 
> This is my first published fanfic and my first completed for Sterek.
> 
> Hope you enjoy! :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf or its characters.

It was a typical day in Beacon Hills—complete with life-endangering supernatural business. It hadn’t been quite so bad this time around, however. Derek and Stiles had been completely capable of handling the situation on their own. 

Some friendly faeries had needed some help with some run-of-the-mill superhuman creature running around and killing off their friends and family. Given that most of the supernatural beings that Derek and the others had been forced to deal with were more than unpleasant, everyone had figured it couldn’t hurt to get some faeries on their side.  
The creature hadn’t been all that difficult to take down and Stiles and Derek were able to get rid of it in a matter of days. 

To express their gratitude, the faeries had granted Stiles and Derek a special ‘gift’ each. The problem was that neither Derek nor Stiles was told what their ‘gifts’ were, exactly.   
As Stiles started driving Derek home, he mentioned the faeries’ oddity. 

“I’m just hoping they didn’t secretly curse us. The way they were looking at us and giggling, though, does not put my nerves at rest,” he said. 

The corner of Derek’s mouth quirked up at the corner. Derek’s relationship with Stiles had greatly improved since the day he’d caught Stiles and Scott traipsing about in the forest. 

Stiles’ eighteenth birthday had been last week and they’d all had a quick get-together at Stiles’ before heading to Derek’s house for movie night. The others had fallen asleep quickly, leaving Derek to shut everything down and throw some blankets over the piles of people in his home. He’d taken the time to think about Stiles and the fact that Derek was reluctantly admitting to himself that he may or may not have started having feelings for the soon-to-be ex-high school student. 

Stiles dropped Derek off at his place and waited until he got inside before peeling away and heading back in the direction of the sheriff’s house.  
Derek stretched and took a moment to look around his empty house before sighing and padding up the stairs to change out of his clothes. Once he had finished, he fell onto his bed and simply lay there for a moment before closing his eyes and succumbing to his exhaustion.

 

Derek woke the next morning to someone pressing their body against his and nuzzling at his neck. Derek groaned before remembering that he’d gone to sleep alone last night. His eyes flew open and he pinned the person to the bed, trapping their hands above their head. He blinked rapidly at the sight of a smirking Stiles….but not…his Stiles.

The Stiles who was pinned underneath him looked all too comfortable—relaxing instead of tensing. He looked older, too, his hair a little longer, styled slightly different. There was an air of confidence and ease surrounding this Stiles that the Stiles Derek knew just didn’t have. 

“Feeling a little frisky, Sourwolf?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Derek frowned, confused as all hell, but unrelenting in his grip on Stiles’ wrists. 

“Stiles? What are you doing?” he asked. Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“Well, I was trying to get in some sexy time with my husband before we have to start our day.” 

He bucked his hips for emphasis. Derek’s grip tightened on his wrists. Stiles’ smirk widened. 

“But it doesn’t look like that’s happening, for whatever weird reason.” Derek took a moment to let what Stiles was saying fully process. He felt his face twist in confusion. 

“Husband?” he asked. Stiles’ smirk was fading. 

“Uh, yeah, husband,” he said, wiggling his ring finger at Derek. Derek’s grip loosened and Stiles shook his hands free, leaning back on his hands and frowning at Derek. 

“What’s wrong with you this morning? You’re acting like you don’t know—“   
Stiles’ eyes suddenly widened and he swore—quite creatively. 

He shoved Derek off of him and stood, running his hands through his hair and pacing. Derek landed on his back and, while Stiles was freaking out, realized that both he and Stiles were naked. Stiles had no sense of modesty, but Derek slowly covered himself up to the waist. 

“Right,” Stiles suddenly said, smacking his fist into the palm of his left hand. 

“You stay here, while I get things going. I’ll explain…later,” he said, going over to a closet on the left side of the room, close to the door, and dressing.   
He told Derek to stay one last time before he walked quickly down the hallway. Derek took this opportunity to survey the room. 

He honestly should have been tipped off by the way this bedroom—obviously not his—looked, but he’d been a little busy at the time. The walls were golden-brown with white trimming. There was a large window just behind the bed that allowed light to filter through white curtains. The bedsheets were white and brown. The carpeting was the same brown as the stripes on the bedsheets and there were two nightstands on either side of the bed. The left was quite messy—obviously due to Stiles. 

Derek’s nightstand was neat, an alarm clock and cell phone plugged into the wall the only things adorning it, aside from a lamp. In the right corner of the room, close to the door, was a desk with a laptop, littered with pictures in silver frames. There was a door to Derek’s right which, upon further inspection, led into a master bathroom.   
Before Derek could look more closely at the picture frames on the desk, Stiles returned, immediately going to the closet and throwing some clothes out on the bed. 

“Get dressed and meet me downstairs. Breakfast’s cooking.” Derek frowned at the lump of clothing. 

“Stiles, we’ve been through this before. None of your clothes will fit me,” he said. Stiles sighed, shutting the doors of the closet. 

“Sourwolf, those are your clothes. They should fit you just fine.” 

Derek reached out for the shirt as Stiles left the room. Sure enough, the shirt was in Derek’s size. He quickly put the clothes on before leaving the bedroom and staring left and right. 

To his right, there were four doors. To the left was a fifth door and the staircase. Derek figured at least one of them had to be a bathroom. The others were probably guest rooms for the pack, if they were to come over. 

The staircase was right against the wall and gave enough hanging room for dozens of pictures. Derek glanced at the first two—a group shot of an older-looking pack and one of Stiles and Derek with their arms wrapped around each other and looking like they were having a blast. He figured the rest were roughly the same, though he was still confused as to exactly what was going on, and continued down the stairs, following the smell of frying bacon. 

He froze just outside the kitchen when he saw three children—a little girl and boy and a baby in a t-shirt that had ‘boss lady’ written on it, with little batman signals crudely drawn on it. Derek didn’t understand why they were there, but he was one hundred percent certain it was because of Stiles. 

The little girl looked up from her plate of bacon and eggs to grin toothily at Derek. 

“Papa!” she exclaimed, waving excitedly. The little boy jerked his head to the side and gave Derek a smile, but he didn’t wave and he didn’t speak. 

‘Papa’? 

Stiles’ head snapped up at the sound of the girl’s voice and he jerked his head at the table. 

“Sit down and I’ll give you some food,” he said. 

Derek hesitantly sat down at the kitchen table, sitting opposite the little girl. The boy sat to her left and the baby was seated in a high chair at the end of the table closest to the ring of windows surrounding the room. Derek listened as the girl babbled on about one thing or another, occasionally throwing in names Derek had never before heard. The boy interjected with the odd comment, but for the most part he remained quiet. 

Stiles landed a plate down in front of Derek before taking the seat opposite the little boy with his own breakfast. He joined in on the nonsensical babbling the girl had started up. Derek and the little boy remained silent while the baby merely gurgled every now and then. 

“Daddy, come on. Uncle Scott and Jamie are waiting,” the girl said impatiently. Stiles raised an eyebrow. 

“Papa, Caleb and I still have to finish eating. Uncle Scott and Jamie can wait.” 

The girl’s lip curled out and her whiskey-colored eyes—eyes like Stiles’—bugged into the biggest case of puppy eyes Derek had ever seen. She was adorable and Derek felt lucky he didn’t have that look directed at him. Stiles reached over to tap her on the nose. 

“Nice try, Pumpkin. Puppy eyes work on Papa, not Daddy.” The girl deflated and rested her elbows on the table, placing her head on her little fists and kicking her feet under the table. 

Soon enough, everyone was finished eating and, after dumping the dishes in the sink, Stiles declared it was time to go as he took the baby out of her high chair. 

“To the Batmobile!” Stiles exclaimed, holding a finger up in the air. The little girl and her brother—Caleb—raced away, elbowing each other on the way. Stiles let out a long sigh. 

“Thank God James invited them over,” he muttered under his breath. 

“Who is James?” Derek asked. Stiles’ lips quirked. 

“James McCall—Jamie. He’s Scott’s older kid and Scarlett’s best friend.” 

Derek filed the information away to ask Stiles about later as he followed Stiles out to the car. Once the baby had been buckled in to her car seat, Stiles drove off. It took approximately five minutes for the kids to start screaming at each other and upset the baby. 

“Daddy! Make her stop! Ouch!” Caleb exclaimed. 

“Scarlett Talia Hale! Stop hitting your brother!” Stiles exclaimed. Scarlett gave Stiles an indignant expression. 

“But Daddy! He started it!” Stiles shook his head. 

“I don’t care who started it, Missy.” Scarlett scowled. 

“He said Superman was better than Batman!” She shouted. Stiles was silent for all of one minute, expression caught somewhere between disbelief and insanity. 

“Be that as it may, if the two of you don’t stop kicking and screaming this second, no one will be going to Uncle Scott’s house and we will all go home. Do you understand me?” Stiles asked. 

Scarlett and Caleb grumbled their understanding. The baby was still crying. 

“Scarlett, Caleb, entertain Jocelyn, would you? Make her laugh.” 

Seemingly eager to be out of the metaphorical dog house, Scarlett and Caleb immediately set to pulling funny faces and telling jokes that made zero sense. After about ten minutes, Stiles pulled up in front of an unfamiliar house. The minute he parked, the door flew open and a little boy ran out of the house, followed by a little girl who was nearly as fast. 

“Scar!” 

“Jamie!” 

Scarlett bolted from the car and tackled the boy to the grass. The little girl flopped over on top of them. Caleb left the car in a much calmer manner. Stiles shook his head with a laugh as he unbuckled Jocelyn, who gurgled happily.

“Derek? Can you, like, hug her for a minute? She still needs a lot of touch from us before she can go with other people.” 

Derek tentatively got out of the car and held his arms out to take the little girl in his arms. She immediately started giggling and patted his face with her chubby little hands. 

“Pa-pa!” she said in garbled toddler language. 

Derek rubbed his hand up and down her back, looking to Stiles for guidance. Stiles was no help. He merely stood there, leaning against the car, and grinned at the two of them. Derek growled and, in response, Jocelyn gave a little baby growl of her own. Derek was startled, but had to admit that it was probably the single most adorable sound he’d ever heard. Stiles laughed. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll stop torturing you. Give me my daughter back.” 

Derek silently held Jocelyn out for Stiles to take, watching as he walked up to an older-looking Scott and Kira. Jocelyn gave a little wave before Stiles handed her to Scott. The kids ran inside as Stiles spoke with Scott. Both Scott and Kira looked back at Derek, nodding and looking concerned. Scott clapped Stiles on the back with a ‘good luck’ before going inside, hand intertwined with Kira’s. 

Before Derek could get back in the car, Scarlett and Caleb came flying out of the house and ran down the path, nearly falling several times in their haste, and plastering Derek to the car via hugs. 

“Bye Papa. Have fun!” Scarlett exclaimed. 

She unwrapped her arms from around his waist and waited for her brother. Caleb looked up and mustered a quiet, “bye-bye,” before turning to Scarlett and running back towards the house. Derek slipped into the car and he and Stiles sat in silence for several moments. Stiles started up the car. 

“I know you’re probably feeling confused…so…ask away,” he said. Derek took a moment. 

“Let’s start with this—what the hell is going on?” he asked. Stiles winced. 

“Welcome to the future, Sourwolf.” Derek waited for Stiles to continue. 

“Tell me what you remember last,” Stiles said. 

“I went to sleep in my empty house after Stiles—you and I helped out some faeries.” Stiles nodded. 

“Thought so.” He made a turn before continuing to explain the situation. 

“So…you know that the faeries gave us gifts, right?” he asked. Derek nodded. 

“Well, the giggling and pointing? Yeah, they figured that we were dating or together or whatever and decided to do some meddling—not that I necessarily mind.” He paused again. 

“Your gift was that you were able to travel into the future and see what our life would be like together—I guess to reaffirm the notion that we were supposed to be together or whatever it was the faeries said. My Derek told me so—and he also told me that everyone here found out some way to get everything back to the way it should be, so I’ve got to get on that as soon as possible.” Derek’s eyes narrowed. 

“What was your gift?” he asked. Stiles smiled warmly, looking off into the distance. 

“You saw the kids, right? Scar and Caleb could potentially be explained away through the magic of medical science, but Joss…she’s got your eyes and my smile. My gift was the ability to get pregnant. Don’t ask me how it works. All I know is that I had to have three freaking C-sections and I could only use Deaton and Melissa as doctors.” Derek blinked.

“So Scarlett, Caleb and Jocelyn are…” he trailed off. Stiles beamed. 

“One hundred percent yours and mine.” Derek let that sink in for a moment. 

“So…everyone has kids now, huh? What about the supernatural side of things?” he asked. Stiles nodded. 

“Yeah, everyone has kids now. Kinda crazy, if you think about it. As for the supernatural stuff, well…things have kind of quieted down. And if we’re ever needed for something, either my dad or Scott’s mom will watch all the kids…or they both watch them, since there are so many. Usually, we don’t all have to go handle a situation, though, so that helps.” Derek nodded. 

“So…when did…you and I happen?” he asked. Stiles chuckled. 

“Shortly after my eighteenth birthday. About a day after the faerie incident, actually. You started it. I was confused, but I rolled with it. We were married…” Stiles thought for a moment. 

“About a year or two after that and then roughly a year or so after that, we had Scarlett.” Stiles swore. 

“Our anniversary is coming up…need to go shopping,” he muttered under his breath. 

“Who would have thought you would be the strict parent?” Derek murmured. Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“Oh please. You go nuts over family and pack. You have your moments, but that’s very rare. I’m sure strict Derek will make more of an appearance in their teen years.” Stiles straightened as he slid the car into the parking space of their house. 

“Besides, I like to think of myself as equally fun and strict.” He slumped as he parked. 

“Dad says it’s payback for me raising hell when I was a kid.” Derek chuckled. 

“I can believe that.” Stiles punched his shoulder. 

“Want to go on a tour of the Hale household?” Derek shrugged. Stiles waved his hand dismissively in the direction of the kitchen. 

“You’ve already seen the kitchen, living room and our bedroom.” He pointed to a door just to the left of the staircase. 

“Bathroom.” He led the way deeper into the house. 

Stopping at a certain spot in the hallway, he said, “This leads to the basement. The trap door is covered up by the rug for obvious reasons.” 

There were two remaining doors. The one to Stiles’ left was, apparently, Derek’s study, which was kept perfectly clean and the kids were forbidden from entering unless they promised not to mess anything up. The door in front of Stiles led to the library, which looked a hell of a lot more like Stiles’ work space. Books, notebooks and loose pieces of paper littered every surface and Derek thought he might have spied some food wrappers in the midst of it all. 

“You and I have come to a long-term agreement that this room is to only be divested of food wrappers, which I take care of myself….usually and the kids are allowed free roam, but they mainly sit on that little bench over there and color.” 

Stiles pointed at a little couch-bench hybrid that was nestled beneath a large window. It would have been the perfect spot for reading. 

Stiles took Derek upstairs next, pausing only to point out the pictures on the wall going up the steps—pictures of Scarlett, Caleb and Jocelyn being held in the hospital and learning to talk and walk. Stiles knocked on the door directly in front of the staircase and called it a guest room. There was a third bathroom on the other side of the hall, which was nestled in between the kids’ rooms. 

Scarlett seemed very gung-ho on both Batman and Disney movies, an equal mix of Batman, Lion King and Mulan merchandise adorning her shelves of books, with the odd butterfly here and there. Apparently, when the lights turned off at night, glow-in-the-dark stars and moons littered her ceiling. Stiles punctuated this statement by saying that it had ‘been a bitch’ to stick everything and make it stay. 

Caleb’s room was littered with comic books and toy cars and figurines of different DC and Marvel superheroes. His little sheets had planets and galaxies on them and right by his bed was a Yoda figurine. Stiles proudly proclaimed their son to be a big fan of the Star Wars franchise. 

Jocelyn’s room was little more than a nursery. A day bed had just been put in and her walls were decorated with animal stickers—mainly wolves. There were dolls and superheroes in a little toy chest in a corner of the room, along with a dollhouse. Inside her crib was a stuffed wolf that Stiles gleefully informed Derek had been named ‘Sourwolf’, in his honor. Jocelyn couldn’t say ‘Sourwolf’ quite yet, but Stiles had been working at it with her. 

Derek scowled at Stiles, who only laughed, because his Derek’s reaction had been exactly the same. 

“Care to help me find the solution to switching you out for my Derek? Not that it isn’t lovely, having pre-relationship you around, but…” he trailed off with a shrug. Derek understood. Stiles was a married man, with three kids that would want their real ‘papa’ back, rather than a papa who was too hesitant to even really hug them. 

Derek followed Stiles back to the library. He didn’t dare try and look for books in all the mess. He didn’t have to, in any case, because Stiles pulled several different books off of different shelves and divided their piles evenly. All of Derek’s books had tables of contents, with specific pages for faeries. From what Derek could see of Stiles’ pile, Stiles’ books were all entirely about faeries. Derek scowled. 

“Do you think I can’t get through a whole book about faeries to look for the answer?” he asked. Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“Finish your sections and you can help me with the bigger stuff.” Derek sighed, slightly irritated, and turned to his book. 

“Don’t you have to pick the kids up at some point?” Derek asked. Stiles shook his head. 

“Scott’s letting them stay over until late tomorrow night, to give us more time to figure out a solution to this mess. Once they come home, we’ll need to occupy their time and balance our reading. We need as much private reading time as we can get.” 

Derek nodded, making it through his pile fairly quickly, as none of the information was remotely useful. Stiles was steadily making his way through one of his books. He had seven of them, including the one he was reading, and each one was easily nine hundred pages each. Derek grabbed the next book in the pile and began reading. 

By the time night fell, they’d each finished one book. They were so tired that neither of them bothered with the stairs or worrying about sleeping beside each other and merely collapsed atop their work, easily slipping into sleep.

 

Derek woke with papers sticking to his forehead and arms. 

He sat up confusedly, peeling the papers off carefully. At the sight of Stiles snoozing as well, he remembered the fact that he’d been transported to a future where he was married to Stiles with three kids, due to the gifts of some faeries. 

Derek took a moment to blearily blink himself awake and observe Stiles as the light filtered in, combing over his hair and face. He looked more like the Stiles that Derek knew, when he was sleeping—younger. Derek yawned and gently shook Stiles’ shoulder. They had five more books to get through and they had to drive and get the kids sometime that night. 

“Mm? Der? What time is it?” Stiles murmured, not opening his eyes. 

Derek looked around for any kind of timepiece before finally noticing that Stiles was wearing a watch. Derek grabbed Stiles’ wrist and held it closer to his face, ignoring Stiles’ groans and complaints of ‘Stiles Abuse’. 

“It’s two in the afternoon,” Derek muttered. They’d slept a good portion of the day away. 

“What, really?” Stiles asked, bolting straight upward, papers sticking to his face just as they had done Derek. 

“Shit! We’ve got six hours until I have to get the kids and we need to eat…shit!” Stiles exclaimed. 

“Relax,” Derek said, more a grunt than actual speech. He removed the paper from Stiles’ face, noting vaguely that Stiles vaguely looked like a scientist gone wrong in the morning, hair sticking out all over the place. 

“We’ll work for a few hours and then we can eat—I’ll make dinner and you can keep reading during the wait, alright?” Stiles nodded slowly. 

“Yeah…okay,” he muttered, immediately grabbing a book and beginning to read. 

“You might want to take a shower,” Derek suggested. Stiles narrowed his eyes at him, jabbing his finger at Derek’s face. 

“I smell like roses, understand?” he said. At Derek’s raised eyebrow, Stiles nodded. 

“Yeah, okay. I mean, it isn’t like we don’t have time,” he muttered, leaving the library. Derek shook his head and picked another book up off the pile. Before long, Stiles had finished with his shower and told Derek to do the same. Derek didn’t protest. 

As he was rooting around for clothes in the closet, Stiles burst in, moving to his nightstand. Derek raised an eyebrow at him when he started to leave, some sort of object clutched in his hand. 

“Yes?” Stiles said. Derek remained silent and Stiles rolled his eyes in response. 

“Oh, come on. I’ve seen you naked, Derek. We have three biological children together. Get over it.” Derek scowled and Stiles laughed. He patted Derek’s shoulder. 

“Don’t worry, Sourwolf. You’re still as hot as ever,” he teased. Derek shook his head. Stiles kissed his cheek and Derek blinked, pulling away to stare at Stiles, who merely shrugged.

“Force of habit. Normally that makes you smile, if I’m being more of a pest than usual.” Stiles grinned. Derek felt his lips quirking up at the corners. 

“There it is!” Stiles pronounced. Derek gently shoved him. 

“Get out.” 

Stiles raised his hands and left the room for Derek to finish getting dressed. By the time they had to leave, Stiles and Derek had both finished a book each, with three left. Derek went with Stiles to pick up Scarlett, Caleb and Jocelyn. Scarlett was still wide awake, Caleb was looking a little tired and Jocelyn was one hundred percent asleep.   
Scarlett prolonged their departure as long as possible, hugging James for several minutes before Stiles and Scott finally had to pull them apart. 

“Daddy, can Jamie come over? Please?” Scarlett pleaded. Stiles sighed. 

“Not right now. I’ll think about it, alright?” he said. Scarlett sighed and sneaked another hug in before climbing into the car. Even then, she still waved enthusiastically at him from the car until they could no longer see his figure in the distance. 

“Is this how you and Scott were as kids?” Derek muttered lowly. 

“The low voice won’t work with our kids. They’re werewolves,” Stiles said. 

“But no, they’re not like me and Scott. I mean…in a way they are—I definitely see some similarities…but they’re way more intense. That extra room is basically James’s room and the spare at Scott’s house pretty much belongs to Scarlett. James has some Legos and clothes stored in one of the drawers and Scarlett took over some puzzles and games a few times and we haven’t seen them since.” 

Now that she was away from the McCall house, Scarlett was starting to look a little sleepy. Caleb had already fallen asleep. Stiles asked Derek to carry Caleb to his room while he put Jocelyn in her crib. Derek did so, with Scarlett holding onto his shirt. Derek carefully set Caleb down and pulled the outer space sheets up to his chin. 

“Papa, you forgot to tuck him in,” Scarlett murmured blearily. Derek frowned. 

“No I didn’t,” he said, looking at how snug the boy looked. Scarlett heaved a big, dramatic sigh and crawled onto Caleb’s bed, pushing the blankets in towards his body until Caleb formed an outline. 

“There,” Scarlett said with a smile. Derek let her pull him into her room. Stiles joined them just as Derek was tucking Scarlett in. 

“Daddy! Read me a story?” she asked. Stiles plucked a book off the shelf and settled in next to Scarlett, on her right. 

“Papa! Come listen,” she insisted, freeing one of her arms to pat the left side of her bed. Derek hesitated and she immediately gave him the same look she’d given Stiles, yesterday morning. 

Unlike Stiles, however, the expression worked wonders on Derek. He laid down beside her. Scarlett scooted backwards and pulled on Derek’s arm until it was around her. She hugged his arm close and eagerly waited for Stiles to start reading. Stiles gave them a warm smile before he started reading, complete with different voices for different characters. About halfway through the book, Stiles stopped reading. 

Scarlett had fallen asleep, mouth open and eyes closed. Derek couldn’t blame her—he was feeling quite tired himself. Stiles put the book away, careful not to make too much noise. 

“Are you going to sleep in here, Sourwolf?” he teased in a whisper. Derek rolled his eyes and gently peeled Scarlett’s fingers off of his arm. Immediately, Scarlett turned over and tucked her arm close to her body, under the covers. Derek carefully lifted himself off the bed, re-tucking the sheets. Stiles chuckled softly. 

“You can go to sleep. I’m going back to the library.” Derek frowned. 

“You need sleep, too.” Stiles waved a hand at him. 

“Nah. You know what you can do, though?” he asked. Derek quirked an eyebrow. 

“Watch after the kids tomorrow while I read through the books. I have a feeling that this isn’t going to be solved for at least a couple days and I have work the day after tomorrow. It’ll give you some practice.” Derek nodded. He’d helped take care of Cora, before the fire. How hard could it be? 

 

Derek found out the next day just how hard it was. 

Apparently, Stiles had made breakfast and told Scarlett and Caleb that he was retreating to the library to do research and that they would be having quality time with Derek. 

Scarlett and Caleb took this to mean ‘run and jump on Papa to wake him up’. Derek was startled awake by knees to his ribs and elbows in his face. 

“Papa, wake up! Wake up!” Scarlett shouted. Derek leaned on his elbows, rubbing his hands down his face. 

“What? What do you want to do?” he asked, words still a little slurred together. 

“Hide and seek!” Caleb nodded enthusiastically. 

“Alright. You guys go hide while I get dressed.” The kids ran from the room, shoving each other as they went. Derek changed and checked on Jocelyn before going on a hunt for them. 

Searching for Scarlett and Caleb turned out to be a nightmare. 

He started out upstairs, checking their rooms and the bathrooms—they were nowhere to be seen. The kitchen, living room and bathroom downstairs also were not inhabited by children. At that point, Derek was a little panicked and he barged into the library, causing Stiles to jerk upright. 

“What the hell, Derek? Did Scarlett break something again?” Derek shook his head. 

“I can’t find either of the kids and I’ve looked everywhere,” he said, wandering deeper into the library. 

“Oh. Well they aren’t in here. Caleb always hides under his bed and Scarlett always picks one of the trees outside,” Stiles said, returning to his work. 

“I already checked under Caleb’s bed,” Derek responded. That made Stiles pause. 

“He’s changed it up…okay, so I don’t know where Caleb is…find Scarlett. I have very little doubt in my mind that she doesn’t know where he is.” Derek started to leave, but Stiles stopped him. 

“When you find Caleb, come back here, okay?” Stiles said. Derek frowned, but agreed and went out back. 

Given that Scarlett wasn’t school-age yet—Derek would put her at about four—he doubted very highly that she would be allowed to go very far into the woods set at the back of the house unless someone was with her. He looked up at the trees and saw a small patch of pale skin like Stiles’. He walked underneath that tree and called up to her. 

“Scarlett, I know you’re up there. Come down.” After a few long moments, Scarlett scrambled down the tree with a sigh. 

“You found me!” she said in an accusing manner. 

“Yeah, I did. Now help me find your brother. St—Daddy said you might know where he is.” Scarlett twisted her arms behind her back and drew designs in the dirt, avoiding his eyes. 

“Scarlett.” She looked up with puppy eyes. 

“Where is Caleb?” he asked. Scarlett sighed and led the way back inside the house and into the hallway leading to the library. She pointed at the rug-covered trapdoor leading to the basement. 

“Stay up here,” Derek said. 

He removed the rug and lowered himself down into the space. He searched the wall for a light switch or something and quickly found one. When the light flickered on, it was made abundantly clear why the trapdoor was covered up by a rug. 

There were tools and sharp objects everywhere. There were also plenty of weapons—likely being kept safe for those times when the supernatural ran rampant through Beacon Hills. It was the biggest safety hazard he’d ever seen. 

“Caleb?” Derek called. 

He heard a sniffling sound and hurried over. Caleb was clutching his hand to his chest and his eyes were wet with tears. The minute he saw Derek, his face crumpled and he started crying, making horrible little sounds that tore at Derek’s heartstrings. 

“Are you okay? Let me see,” he murmured, reaching out for Caleb’s hand. Caleb tentatively gave Derek his hand. The wound was already healing, but whatever had happened had probably hurt pretty badly. 

“What happened?” Caleb pointed beside him. It looked like a knife had fallen off the table above him and sliced Caleb’s palm on the way down. Derek sighed and picked Caleb up. 

Caleb wrapped his arms around Derek’s neck. 

“Help him out,” Derek said to Scarlett. She pulled on his arms while Derek pushed upwards. After he lifted himself out of the basement and replaced the rug, he carried Caleb to the bathroom, followed by Scarlett, and set him on the counter. He cleaned the blood away and covered it with a Batman bandage. 

“I like Superman,” Caleb muttered. 

“Well, this can be your punishment for being in the basement,” Derek said. 

“Really?” Caleb asked, looking hopeful. 

“No.” 

Caleb deflated again as Derek led them into the library. Stiles stood with a sigh and crossed his arms, seeming to have expected something had been wrong. 

“I see you found them. Scarlett knew where he was?” Derek nodded. 

“Basement?” Derek nodded again. Stiles sighed again. 

“Okay. Put them in separate corners, in chairs facing the corner for…fifteen minutes. Caleb, you’re in trouble for going into the basement when you weren’t supposed to, though I am very thankful you weren’t hurt too badly,” Stiles said, eyeing the Batman bandage. He turned to Scarlett. 

“And you are in trouble for helping him, though it is nice when you two get along instead of hitting each other all the time.” 

Scarlett and Caleb accepted their punishments in silence and Derek watched over them for the fifteen minutes they had to sit in the corner, stewing in their guilt. Once their time was done, Derek suggested a board game. They had dozens of board games and card sets, but Derek settled for something that would be good for three and up and found Candy Land underneath Monopoly. 

After a few minutes of playing the game, Scarlett and Caleb returned to their normal selves and demanded more and more rounds of Candy Land. By the time they grew tired of it, Scarlett had won eleven games, Caleb nine and Derek somehow wound up with zero wins. 

“You’re bad at this game, Papa,” Scarlett giggled. Caleb joined her. Derek grumbled. 

“Want to play Slapjacks?” Derek asked. Scarlett and Caleb titled their heads. 

“How do you play?” Scarlett asked. Derek got a deck of cards and rifled through them until he found a jack. 

“When this card shows up, slap your hand down on top of it and take all the cards that are underneath it. Whoever has the most cards at the end, wins.” 

Scarlett in particular looked intrigued by the slapping aspect of the game. Derek gave her a look. 

“Slap the card, Scarlett. Not Caleb.” She grinned. 

“Let’s play!” she exclaimed. 

The three of them sat down on the floor, so there would be more of an even distance between their hands and the cards. Derek laid down the cards, one by one, slowly. When he was younger and had played this game, he’d done it at practically lightning speed to try and trip everyone up. It had ended with several rounds of the entire deck being laid down without anyone getting any cards. 

Seeing as how he was playing with children under five years old, that route wasn’t advisable. 

Once they got the hang of it, Scarlett and Caleb were eager to continue playing. There were a few slapping accidents when the competitive siblings slammed their hands down on the pile, but that was all they were—accidents. They had lunch while they played, which got the cards a bit sticky but there were several separate decks in Derek’s workspace—why the games were in there when the kids weren’t allowed inside was a mystery to him—so he didn’t think one sticky deck would matter all that much. 

Derek lost track of how many times each of them won and, naturally, Scarlett and Caleb started arguing over who had won more games. Jocelyn, who Derek had brought downstairs and put in her high chair when he’d gotten lunch ready, looked back and forth between them curiously. For the rest of the day, Derek bonded with Scarlett and Caleb over games and broke up about seven different fights, three of which caused Jocelyn to start crying. 

Dinner was kind of a relief. He cooked and delivered a plate to Stiles in the library and Scarlett and Caleb ceased the fighting while Jocelyn just drank her milk and ate her mashed food. 

When eight o’clock came around, Derek was more than ready to put the kids to bed. He liked them and they were really very cute but he’d broken up a horrid amount of arguments, played what seemed like fifty rounds of games that got tiring, and had to watch over them stare at corners and cry while Jocelyn wailed. He was tired and ready to either stay up for time by himself or pass out, regardless of location. 

Derek knew to tuck them in this time and, thankfully, both Scarlett and Caleb were too tired to want a story. They were satisfied with a kiss goodnight and telling him that they loved him. They were asleep before he could even attempt to respond. 

Derek went downstairs and fell onto the couch with a groan, covering his eyes from the light. He heard a loud laugh coming from his left and leaned onto his elbows to see over the back of the couch. Stiles was leaning against the wall of the hallway, staring at him with a grin. 

“Busy day?” he asked. Derek glared at him and Stiles laughed again. 

“Don’t laugh so loudly. You’ll wake them up.” Stiles shook his head. 

“Nah. Unless they have nightmares, they pretty much sleep like rocks.” Derek reclined back into the couch as Stiles made his way over to lean on the back of the couch. 

“Ready to watch them all alone tomorrow? Dole out the punishments? Read them stories?” Stiles asked. Derek narrowed his eyes at him. 

“After some sleep, maybe.” Stiles grinned again. 

“It’s great seeing you like this. When Scarlett was born, you were just too good at it—the parenting thing.” Derek raised an eyebrow and Stiles shrugged. 

“My Derek told me it was because he’d had experience that was fresher in his mind than a baby Cora who was, by that time, married with a baby of her own.” Derek raised the other eyebrow. 

“Really, Derek, did you think Scott, Kira and the two of us were the only ones with kids?” Derek shook his head. 

“I didn’t think about it.” Stiles moved Derek’s legs and sat down, placing Derek’s legs back in his lap. Derek ignored it. 

“Do you want me to tell you about everyone?” Stiles asked. 

“Have you given up your conquest of the books in your stack?” Stiles shrugged. 

“Yeah. I mean, no one got seriously hurt with you in charge and you managed to look over their punishments so I guess there isn’t really a rush. Though I only have about a book and a half to get through before the well of information runs dry. The number of things I now know about faeries is astounding.” Derek shrugged. 

“Alright then. Tell me what’s gone on in the time that has passed since the faerie incident. Maybe it’ll bore me to sleep,” he said with a smirk. Stiles hit his leg. 

“So, you already know that Scott married Kira and had two kids. James is Scar’s age and Marnie is the same age as Caleb. Scott’s a veterinarian. Deaton died shortly after Scar was born—Melissa helped with Caleb and Jocelyn.” He paused to stretch his limbs.

“Lydia married Parrish and they have twin girls and a baby on the way—my bet is that it’s a boy. Lydia’s the best damn lawyer in all of Beacon Hills—or anywhere, let’s be honest—and Parrish is still a deputy. Malia ran off for a while, but when she came back, she was pregnant with a little girl named Lena.” The next pause was for thinking about who all he was missing. 

“Danny got married and works in software. He adopted a daughter and he and his husband are in the process of adopting a boy. Cora married a guy she met here in town and they have two boys, but Cora wants a girl so they keep trying…and that’s about it.” Derek didn’t really care to hear about every single person’s new family and career, but the information was probably good to know, given that Scarlett was prone to babbling. 

“You got any names for me? I don’t think I’m asleep yet,” Derek responded. Stiles shot him a glare. 

“Hell yeah, I’ve got names. Danny’s daughter’s name is Hannah. The boy’s name is Lucas. Lydia’s girls are Evie and Chloe. Cora’s got Miles and Alexander and, when we were over at her house, she told us that if they have a girl that they’re going to name her Emma.” Derek yawned. Stiles shook his head. 

“One day, you’ll care about this, you’ll see.” Derek smiled at him. Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“Go to bed, Sourwolf.” Derek was set to do just that, but he paused and looked at Stiles. 

“Are…are you going to come up? Because I can sleep down here…” he trailed off. Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“Grow up. We can share a bed and I promise I won’t do anything remotely similar to what I did when you woke up here.” Stiles reached for the remote to the television. 

“Besides, if you sleep down here, Scarlett and, to a lesser extent, Caleb will tease you all day about being in the dog house.” He looked over. 

“You will go upstairs and go to sleep in the bed and, once I’m feeling more tired and less like my head is going to explode, I will also go upstairs and sleep in the bed.” 

Derek stretched his limbs and carefully made his way up the stairs, not fully trusting what Stiles had said about the kids being heavy sleepers. The good thing about exhaustion, Derek supposed, was the fact that falling asleep wasn’t even remotely a problem. 

 

Derek was shaken awake by Stiles. 

“I know you’re probably still tired, but breakfast is ready and I have about ten minutes before I have to head down to the station.” Derek blinked slowly awake. 

“You’re a cop now?” he asked. 

“Sheriff, actually. My dad retired around the time Joss was born and I was the one who got promoted, coincidentally. Lydia verbally wounded me for about a week after.” Made sense. 

Derek didn’t bother with a change of clothes just then and followed Stiles down to the kitchen table. Today’s breakfast was waffles. Scarlett had drowned hers in syrup. You couldn’t even really see the waffles. Caleb, on the other hand, barely had any at all and the syrup he did have was on the plate and he was dipping his waffles into it.   
Stiles was whirling around the kitchen, doing dishes and talking to Scarlett and Caleb, who were sitting opposite each other today. Ten minutes passed and everyone had finished their food. 

“Alright, I’m going to work. Batman? Superman?” Stiles said, looking back and forth between Scarlett and Caleb. He leaned his head down in between them. 

“Kisses!” 

Batman and Superman must’ve been nicknames, Derek figured, as both children gave Stiles big slobbery kisses on his cheeks. Derek moved to put his dishes in the sink and crossed paths with Stiles, who gave him a quick peck on the lips and walked off, grabbing his keys on his way out. Derek stared after him. 

Stiles had straddled him and kissed his neck when he’d thought Derek was still…his version of Derek, but since he’d found out that Derek was the Derek in his early twenties, physical contact had been limited to little touches like last night—innocent. While Stiles hadn’t exactly grabbed Derek by the back of the head and pulled him in for a kiss that wasn’t fit to be seen by those five and under, Derek had still been shocked. 

Not to mention that he wouldn’t have necessarily minded if Stiles had pulled him in for a kiss like that. 

“Papa?” Scarlett said quietly, pulling him out of his thoughts of kissing Stiles until they were both out of breath. 

“Yeah?” Scarlett gave him the puppy eyes and Derek knew he was in for trouble. 

“Can Jamie come over and stay the night?” she asked. Derek sighed. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” 

“Please?” 

Derek tried to stay strong by staying silent. 

“He doesn’t have to stay over. Please?” 

Derek’s resolve was weakening. 

“Please, Papa?” Scarlett pleaded again. 

Derek broke. 

“If his parents say okay then…fine,” he muttered, knowing that he was going to regret the decision. 

“Yay!” she shouted, startling Jocelyn. She ran up the stairs and came back with a phone Derek recognized as the one from his nightstand—presumably, his cell phone. 

“Hi, Uncle Scott!” she exclaimed cheerfully. Derek heard Scott respond warmly. 

“Why do you have Derek’s phone?” he asked. 

“Papa said Jamie could come over if you said okay!” 

“He did?” Derek heard another, younger voice come on the line. 

“Is that Scar?” Scott was silent for several long moments. 

“Yeah, she wants you to go to her house if I say okay.” James shouted excitedly. 

“I’ll go get my stuff!” 

“Wait, James! I haven’t said okay.” Derek heard the boy plead with Scott, quite intensely, for a four-year-old. 

“You saw each other two days ago,” he said, tone slightly exasperated. 

“Two days is too long!” James argued. 

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Scott muttered, seemingly to himself. Apologizing for the way he and Stiles had been, perhaps? 

“Fine, I guess?” Scott said, phrased more like a question than anything else. 

“Yes!” Scarlett started jumping up and down excitedly. 

“Thanks Uncle Scott!” She hung up before Scott could say anything and handed Derek the cell phone, sitting stationed at the window. Derek looked at Caleb. 

“Scar is weird,” Caleb said. 

Derek couldn’t disagree. 

Caleb moved into the living room to watch cartoons and Derek removed Jocelyn from her high chair and sat beside Caleb with the baby on his chest, relishing in the quiet that was likely the calm before the storm. 

The minute the car pulled up, Scarlett was at the door and running down the path to meet James. Derek watched as Scarlett and James hurriedly waved at Scott before Scarlett grabbed James’s wrist and pulled him along the path. Derek moved back from the door so as not to get barreled over by two four-year-olds. 

“Hi Uncle Derek,” James grinned, displaying dimples like Scott’s. 

He looked more like Kira though, with eyes tilted upwards and high cheekbones. Since both Scott and Kira had dark hair and dark eyes, he really looked like both his parents. Something about his face, though, reminded Derek more of Kira, even though the smile was all Scott’s. 

“Hey, Jamie,” Derek murmured. James’s smile vanished, replaced by a frown. Scarlett’s eyes widened. 

“Papa, you can’t call him that,” she whispered. She looked surprised, as if Derek should’ve already known this. Then again, the Derek that was her actual father probably did know. Derek raised his eyebrows. 

“Only I can call him Jamie.” Judging from James’s expression; it was likely a rule that had been enforced by the boy himself, rather than Scarlett. 

“Sorry,” Derek murmured, holding his hands up. James’s smile returned. Scarlett pulled him over to the living room floor and picked up the deck of cards that Derek hadn’t put back after he and the kids had played with them last night. Scarlett showed James how to play and soon they were slapping the floor every few seconds. 

Maybe having James come over wasn’t such a bad thing. 

He occupied Scarlett’s time, Caleb was practically falling asleep while watching Tom and Jerry reruns and Jocelyn was happily leaning on Derek’s chest, patting his shoulder every now and again. Unlike Derek, when Scarlett demanded more and more rounds of the same game; James kept playing and did so with a wide grin. 

Derek was lulled into a false sense of security. 

Everything was fine until around noon. Jocelyn needed to be held and fed, but she wasn’t overly fussy. Caleb curled up on the couch, facing away from the TV and went right to sleep and Scarlett and James were still playing Slapjacks. Derek went upstairs to put Jocelyn down for a nap and when he returned, Caleb was still asleep and Scarlett and James were gone. 

Derek swore and searched all over the house, finding no trace of them. He went outside, muttering under his breath. 

“I swear to God, if they went in the basement…” he trailed off at the sight of Scarlett emerging from the woods, laughing loudly as James, eyes gold, chased her. 

“Come play tag with us, Papa!” Scarlett shouted, giggling when James tackled her to the ground. Derek crossed his arms. 

“Are you supposed to go in the woods alone?” he asked. Scarlett pushed at James’s shoulders and he obediently rolled away. 

“No. But Jamie was with me!” Derek gave her a look. Scarlett drew designs in the dirt with her shoe. 

“You need me out here if you’re going to run around, okay? You had me worried.” Scarlett looked at the ground. 

“Sorry, Papa,” she said. James held her hand. Derek didn’t say it was okay, but kneeled in front of her and hugged her. 

“Just don’t do it again, alright?” Scarlett nodded against his neck, the one arm that wasn’t held captive by a four-year-old boy wrapping around his back.

“Why don’t you play inside for today?” Scarlett nodded and tugged James back inside the house. Derek shook his head, ran his fingers through his hair and brought his hands down to rub his face. 

At least Caleb was still…and Caleb was gone. Derek let out a growl of frustration. 

“Did you see Caleb go anywhere?” he asked. Scarlett and James shook their heads.

And so, Derek went on his second child hunt of the day—after reminding Scarlett to stay in the house. Derek went upstairs and checked Caleb’s room first. He wasn’t there. Thankfully, he was in the second room Derek entered—Jocelyn’s room. Derek frowned. 

“Caleb? What are you doing in here?” he asked. 

“I heard her crying.” Derek looked into the crib, at the sleeping Jocelyn. He looked back at Caleb. 

“She was crying?” Derek asked. Caleb nodded. 

“You had to find Scar. I helped.” Caleb grinned. 

“I can’t reach,” he said, reaching his hand up to show Derek. 

“I did this.” He enfolded Jocelyn’s tiny hand in his own. 

“She stopped.” Derek smiled, ruffling Caleb’s hair. 

“Good job, Caleb.” Caleb’s smile widened. 

“Let’s go back downstairs and let her sleep a little more.” Caleb nodded and was extra careful leaving the room, making an effort to not make any noise. Derek shut the door quietly and went downstairs, where James and Scarlett had started wrestling. Caleb immediately ran over and jumped on Scarlett’s back. James grinned. 

“Thanks, Caleb!” 

“Boy power!” Caleb shouted. Scarlett scowled and threw her brother off of her. 

“Girl power!” she shouted back at him. James just laughed at them both. 

Derek kept an eye on them and made dinner when it was time. Things had gone better today. Maybe having James over served as a deterrent against the sibling fights. Derek’s pocket vibrated and he remembered that he’d taken his cell phone back from Scarlett. He frowned, lifting it to his ear. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey, Derek,” Stiles said. 

“How are the kids getting along?” Derek paused, scratching the back of his neck. 

“They’re doing fine…they haven’t got into any fights today.” 

“Really?” Stiles sounded suspicious. 

“That’s funny because the only time those two don’t have at least one argument is when James comes over.” Derek didn’t respond and Stiles swore. 

“Is everyone alive? What kind of shenanigans have they gotten into?” Derek scowled. 

“Everything’s fine. They went out in the woods alone, but I set them straight and they’ve been inside under my watch all day.” Stiles sighed. 

“Alright. As long as there are no broken bones or anything,” he muttered. Derek glared at the wall. 

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Stiles. Is there a reason you called?” he asked. 

“Yes, actually. I won’t be home until eight-thirty or nine tonight, so you’ve got to make sure everyone gets to bed on time and everything.” Derek nodded, despite the fact that Stiles couldn’t see him. 

“Bedtimes I can handle,” he said. Stiles laughed. 

“Okay. Tell the kids I love them, okay?” 

“Will do.” They hung up and Derek slipped his phone back into his pocket. 

“Was that Daddy?” Scarlett said, walking into the kitchen. Derek was doing dishes. 

“Yeah. He’s going to work late tonight, so I’m in charge of bedtime tonight.” He paused for a moment. 

“He also told me to tell you that he loves you and Caleb.” Scarlett beamed and both she and Derek went into the living room, Scarlett relaying Stiles’ message to Caleb. 

Before long, eight o’clock swung around and Derek tucked Caleb in, then Scarlett, who demanded a story. James stayed in her room to listen. They both fell asleep before he finished reading. Derek picked James up and carried him to the spare bedroom, tucking him in as well. Derek picked up Jocelyn, who he had let sleep too long in her nap that afternoon and went back down the stairs to lay on the couch and hope that she went to sleep. 

She didn’t squirm or try to scramble off his chest, content to lay there and stare off into space. The peace and quiet mixed with the comfort of laying down proved too much and, arm curled over Jocelyn’s back protectively, his eyes slipped closed.

Stiles woke him a few hours later when he took Jocelyn off his chest. 

“Go to bed, Derek. I’ve got her,” he whispered. Derek was too sleep-drunk to argue, or ask about the kiss that morning, choosing instead to fall upstairs and really pass out, ignoring Stiles getting in beside him. 

 

When Derek woke again, it was morning and Stiles was missing. Derek groaned, stretching against the sheets and just relaxing for a few minutes before going downstairs, prompted by the smell of pancakes. Stiles had finished cooking already and he grinned when he saw Derek. 

“Morning, Sleepyhead!” He said cheerfully. Derek grunted. 

“I don’t have to go in until later, so you get a little bit of a break today.” Derek said nothing, grabbing his plate of pancakes. 

“Where are the kids?” Derek murmured. 

“They haven’t woken up yet. I was going to get them in a few minutes.” Stiles smirked. 

“Want to see my new lock screen?” he asked. Derek didn’t really give a damn what picture Stiles used for his damn phone. It was probably Batman or Catwoman or some other fictional character. 

Stiles produced his phone, making the screen light up. It was a picture of him, from last night, with Jocelyn on his chest. It was so domestic that it made his heart ache. Stiles grinned, seeming to know Derek’s line of thinking. Derek changed the subject. 

“What was with that kiss yesterday?” he asked, yawning. Stiles shrugged, pocketing the phone. 

“Reflex. Every morning, when I go to work, I get kisses from the kids and I kiss my husband.” As Derek had suspected. Derek must’ve been making a strange expression, because Stiles laughed. 

“No need to look so disappointed, Sourwolf. I love you whether you’re my Derek or past Derek.” Derek averted his eyes. Stiles laughed again. Derek scowled at him, but Stiles used his hands to straighten his face back out. Derek shoved his hands away, lips tilting upwards against his will. 

“You think I’m funny,” Stiles teased. 

“Shut up.” Stiles went on teasing him, laughing the whole time. 

“For the love of God, shut up!” Derek exclaimed, trapping Stiles’ head between his hands. They stared at each other for several long moments. Stiles’ eyes flickered between Derek’s eyes and lips. He removed Derek’s hands. 

“Eat your pancakes.” Derek sat down to do just that. Stiles cleared his throat. 

“So…I finished off the rest of the books and I didn’t really find a solution.” Derek stared at him. Stiles held up his hands. 

“I did, however, find a section about gifts from faeries. It listed some of the gifts faeries give out and, as luck would have it…time travel was one of them.” Derek raised an eyebrow. 

“And?” he asked. Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“Unfortunately, there are no spells or whatever that can send you back to your time.” Derek frowned. 

“Are you saying I’m going to be stuck here forever? As nice as it is here, I would like to experience the bits of my life leading up to this.” Stiles smiled. 

“Damn right you do. But no, that’s not what I’m saying. Time travel gifts have time limits, varying from three days to a whole week. Since today is your fifth day waking up in the future, I’d say you should be gone either Sunday morning or you’ll at least be in your own bed by Monday morning.” Derek nodded. 

“I can tell you’re really cut up about it,” he said. Stiles sighed. 

“I told you before—I love you either way. However, I would like my husband back. I’m dying of blue balls over here,” he said with a smirk. Derek choked on his pancakes and Stiles laughed. 

“What the hell?” Derek asked over his own coughing. Stiles held his hands up. 

“Give me a break. I’m married to an incredibly attractive man whom I have not had ‘sexy time’ with in what seems like forever.” Derek narrowed his eyes. 

“How long has it actually been?” he asked. Stiles scratched the back of his neck. 

“Since you got here.” Derek shook his head. 

“You can’t go five days without sex?” he asked. Stiles crossed his arms and quirked an eyebrow. 

“I can, but what fun is that? Besides, you’re pretty insatiable yourself, Mister.” Derek finished his pancakes. 

“Why are you still talking to me? Go wake up the kids.” Stiles laughed. 

“Aye, aye, Captain Hale.” Derek rolled his eyes as he washed his plate and fork. When Stiles returned, three sleepy children were with him. Scarlett and James took up one side of the table and Caleb sat in between Scarlett and Derek at the end of the table closest to the kitchen. Stiles put Jocelyn in her high chair and sat down beside her, looking at her every few minutes to make sure she was doing alright. Scarlett wasn’t babbling as she usually did, so breakfast was pretty quiet. 

James slumped over, head falling onto Scarlett’s shoulder. Stiles shook his head. 

“Why is everyone so tired?” he asked. Scarlett yawned.

“Jamie and I had fun yesterday. We ran a lot.” Stiles shrugged. 

“Fair enough. Caleb?” Caleb yawned. 

“He took a nap yesterday,” Derek murmured. Stiles frowned. 

“Caleb, are you feeling okay?” he asked, standing up and feeling Caleb’s head to check his temperature. 

“You don’t feel warm,” he muttered. 

“I woke up early.” Caleb yawned a second time. 

“And you couldn’t get back to sleep?” Caleb shook his head. Stiles wrapped him up in a hug. 

“Poor thing. It’s because I was gone wasn’t it?” Stiles asked teasingly. Caleb giggled and shook his head. James fell onto the floor and startled Scarlett awake. Derek joined Stiles and Caleb in their laughter as Scarlett pulled James up. 

“Hey, James. When’s your dad coming to pick you up?” Stiles asked. James shook his head. 

“Daddy’s not picking me up. Mommy is.” Stiles reiterated the question with ‘mom’ in place of ‘dad’. 

“One. I have to go see Gramma.” Stiles tilted his head. 

“Are you getting shots? Or just a checkup?” 

“Checkup,” James said, looking much more cheerful and awake than he had a few minutes before. 

“I’ll go too!” Scarlett exclaimed. James grinned. 

“No you won’t,” Stiles said. Scarlett and James deflated. 

“Why not?” Scarlett asked. 

“You don’t have to go to the doctor.” Scarlett’s nose scrunched. 

“Daddy, I don’t feel good,” she said. Stiles and Derek laughed. 

“Nice try. You’re staying home with Papa.” Scarlett sighed. 

“Okay.” James patted her arm. Stiles looked at Derek with a smirk. Derek shook his head. Stiles left at noon and Kira showed up an hour later. 

Like Scarlett, James avoided saying goodbye for as long as possible before getting in the car. The minute the car was no longer in view, Scarlett rounded on Caleb and started a fight with him for something that had supposedly happened the day before. Derek had to pull them apart and sentence Scarlett to ten minutes in the corner. 

He was starting to get the hang of parenting. It wasn’t as…startling…as his first day watching the kids had been, though Scarlett and Caleb got into five more fights, three of which at such a volume that Jocelyn started wailing and wouldn’t calm down for about three minutes. Stiles didn’t have to be at work all that long, so he came back around five o’clock. Scarlett and Caleb just about knocked him over when he came through the door. 

“How were they today?” he asked. Derek shrugged. 

“They were…Scarlett and Caleb,” he said simply. Stiles chuckled. Dinner came and went and so did bedtime. This time, however, Derek wasn’t so tired that he went to sleep as soon as the kids were in bed. Instead, he stayed up with Stiles watching movies that he’d never seen before because they’d been produced in the last six years or so. Before long, though, both Derek and Stiles had fallen asleep.

Derek woke to the sound of a scream. It took him approximately two seconds to register where the scream had come from before he was running from the couch, where Stiles had slumped over to sleep on his shoulder, up the stairs and into Scarlett’s room. Stiles was right behind him. Scarlett was shaking on her bed, eyes wide and filled with tears. 

“Papa! Daddy!” She shouted, holding her arms out. Derek got there first, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his lap. 

“What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?” Stiles asked, kneeling down in front of her and rubbing his thumbs over her hands. Derek felt Scarlett nod. Stiles winced. 

“Do you need to talk about it?” he asked softly. Scarlett shook her head, but told them anyway. 

“Everyone was dead,” she said, sounding two seconds away from sobbing. 

“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, Scar.” Scarlett wrapped her arms around his neck. 

“The monster was going to get me,” she mumbled miserably. Stiles looked more alert at her words. 

“Monster? What monster?” he asked. 

“I don’t know. It was scary,” she said. Stiles didn’t look any less tense. 

“Do you ever have nightmares, Daddy?” Scarlett asked, leaning back into Derek’s chest. Stiles thought for a moment. 

“Not so much anymore, but…everyone has nightmares, Scar. I have nightmares. Papa has nightmares. Everyone.” 

“Can I sleep with you tonight? Please?” Stiles didn’t even hesitate. 

“Of course you can. Do you need me or Papa to walk you to our room?” Scarlett shook her head slowly. 

“No. I’m a big girl.” Stiles smiled, kissing her forehead. 

“Alright. We’ll be there in a minute, okay?” Scarlett nodded and slipped off her bed to walk down the hall. Stiles’ smile dropped and he rubbed his hands down his face. 

“Are you okay?” Derek asked quietly. Stiles nodded. 

“Of course. I’m not the one who had the nightmare.” Derek frowned at him. 

“What was that? And don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.” Stiles sighed. 

“I was worried the Nogitsune stuff might have trickled down to the kids…been worried about it for a while. Every time they mention some kind of monster, I think it might be something about the Nogitsune. Since she had a nightmare about everyone being dead…” He trailed off and shrugged. 

“Stiles—“ 

“Let’s go check on Caleb and Jocelyn.” Derek sighed, but followed Stiles to Caleb’s room. Caleb was blinking himself awake. 

“Is Scar okay?” he asked, rubbing his fists in his eyes. 

“She just needs a puppy pile, is all,” Stiles said with a smile. Caleb looked up. 

“Can I come?” Stiles sighed dramatically. 

“I suppose so. Go ahead and go to our room.” Caleb scurried down from his bed to go down the hall. Jocelyn’s room was last. Stiles picked her up, despite the fact that she—amazingly—was still asleep. 

“What are you doing? And how is she still asleep when one fight from Scarlett and Caleb has her screaming.” Stiles chuckled. 

“I wasn’t kidding about the puppy pile thing. When the kids have nightmares, being all together makes them feel better—safer. As long as she sleeps on your chest or mine, it works out.” He paused. 

“She cries when Scarlett and Caleb fight because she can sense the discontent or whatever and it upsets her. It’s not the noise. And she’s asleep, so her sensing isn’t exactly up to par.” Derek nodded. He supposed it made sense, in an odd sort of way. 

“Are you going to be okay?” Derek asked. Stiles stopped smiling. 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. As far as I know, the monster in her dreams is some weird purple thing with fangs…and my nightmares about it aren’t all that frequent anymore.” Derek reached out and pulled Stiles close for a hug, mindful of the baby. 

“What was that for?” Stiles asked. Derek pulled back with a shrug. 

“I felt like it,” he muttered. Stiles smirked. 

“You like me,” he teased. Derek rolled his eyes. 

“Go get in bed.” Stiles held a hand to his chest. 

“Derek! The children!” he said with a mock gasp. 

“Smartass.” Stiles grinned. 

“Damn straight.” 

Scarlett and Caleb were already hunkered down in the middle of the bed. Derek and Stiles laid down carefully beside them, Stiles putting Jocelyn on his chest with a hand on her back. Scarlett curled up to Derek, who was closer to her while Caleb pulled Stiles closer to him. In the end, there was no space between any of them and Scarlett and Caleb fell asleep within minutes. Derek stroked Scarlett’s hair, trying to comfort her in her sleep. Stiles’ chuckle drew Derek’s attention to him. 

“How are you liking parenting, Derek?” he asked teasingly. Derek looked down at Scarlett…then Caleb…and Jocelyn laying on Stiles’ chest. He shrugged. 

“It isn’t half bad,” he muttered. Stiles chuckled again. 

“Goodnight, Sourwolf.” Derek rolled his eyes. 

“Goodnight, Smartass.” Stiles was the next to fall asleep. He looked at the kids and Stiles again. Maybe he wasn’t so eager to get back home, where everyone was still young and Stiles and he…weren’t even really a thought in anyone’s minds. Here, he had family. Here, he had love. Here, he was undoubtedly happy. Derek raised his arm and laid it over top Scarlett and Caleb, barely grasping at the fingers of Stiles’ right hand…and fell asleep.

 

Waking up was less peaceful than going to sleep. 

Derek woke up with a hand punching him in the face and a leg kicking out at him. Derek sat up to see a restless Scarlett. Derek wasn’t the only victim of her sleep-fighting. Caleb was also getting kicked and hit. Stiles and Jocelyn were gone. Derek went to leave the bed, but Scarlett latched onto his arm. He checked the time and saw that it was past time for everyone to be awake, so he shook Scarlett and Caleb until they woke up. 

“Time to get up, guys.” They both groaned, but rolled out of the bed—quite literally. They rolled across the expanse of sheets and right onto the floor. Derek shook his head. 

Definitely Stiles’ kids. 

Once he was sure that neither of them were seriously injured, he led the way down to the kitchen where, wonder of wonders, Stiles had just finished putting breakfast on the table. Stiles grinned at the sight of them. 

“Good morning, troops,” he said cheerily. When the kids sat down, Stiles moved over to Derek and patted him on the shoulder. 

“Nice handholding stunt last night, Hale.” Derek shoved Stiles’ shoulder. 

“Feeling a little sentimental, were you?” Stiles asked, undeterred. 

“Your mouth never stops moving,” Derek said with an eye roll. Stiles smirked and Derek shook his head. 

“You are the single most irritating being on the entire planet.” Stiles shook his head. 

“You like me.” 

They sat down at the table. The routine of the day was much the same as the ones that had passed since Derek had woken up in the future. Stiles went to work…Derek broke up three fights and made dinner. Stiles came back and they tucked the kids in together before settling downstairs in the living room to watch more movies. 

“Tomorrow’s your last day in the future, probably,” Stiles said. Derek nodded. 

“Anything you want to do? Go to the zoo and see what new species there are?” Derek narrowed his eyes at him. 

“Are there actually new animals?” Stiles shook his head. 

“Nah.” Derek shook his head. 

“Then no. The past week’s been fine, Stiles.” Stiles shrugged and slouched further down into the couch. 

Derek looked at him and found himself wanting to kiss him. After all, they were married weren’t they? And Stiles didn’t exactly seem to oppose the idea of contact with Derek. Derek moved closer. Stiles eyed him suspiciously. 

“What are you doing?” Derek didn’t say anything, instead leaning his head down…only to be met with Stiles’ hand. Stiles frowned at him. 

“What are you doing?” he asked again. Derek moved Stiles’ hand away. 

“Well, I was going to kiss you.” Stiles shook his head. 

“Nope. You have to experience Stiles kisses as it happened in time. You have to ask eighteen-year-old me on a date, Mister. These kisses don’t come free.” Derek raised an eyebrow. 

“Thought you said you were ‘dying of blue balls’.” Stiles gave him a look. 

“I do have some semblance of self-control, Derek.” 

“You kissed me,” Derek pointed out. Stiles held up a finger. 

“Out of reflex. However, I am not doing a damn thing with a Derek who hasn’t made his move yet.” He said it all with a smile. 

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Derek asked, though it was more of a statement. Stiles grinned. 

“Definitely.” Derek rolled his eyes. 

Eventually, they walked upstairs and went to bed. 

“No spooning!” Stiles said. Derek shoved at him. 

“Shut up.” Stiles laughed. 

 

Derek didn’t end up sticking to the ‘no spooning’ rule. 

In his defense, he had been asleep. There had been no conscious decision to close the distance between himself and Stiles and loop an arm over him. 

“Thought I said no spooning,” Stiles murmured, voice tinged with sleep. 

“I was asleep.” Stiles shook his head. 

“Excuses, excuses.” Derek rolled away from him, immediately missing the warmth Stiles’ body had provided and unwilling to admit it. Stiles stood, announcing that he would be making breakfast and telling Derek to wake the kids up. Grumbling, Derek shuffled into each of the kids’ rooms, waking them up and picking Jocelyn up from her crib. Stiles didn’t go into work all day, instead playing games with Derek, Scarlett and Caleb. 

Derek was sure to appreciate every moment of it because he was certain that, when he woke the next morning, he would be in his own bed. Scarlett suggested hide-and-seek and they all enjoyed a few rounds of that, Derek and Stiles switching out to watch over Jocelyn. 

There was a lot of bickering at lunch, followed by Derek’s phone ringing with an excited little boy on the other end, asking if Scarlett could come over again. Derek gave Stiles an exasperated look.

“What are you looking at me for?” Derek shook his head. Scarlett was making those puppy eyes at him and he couldn’t very well say no to that, could he? 

“Fine. We’ll drive her over tomorrow,” Derek said. James and Scarlett shouted with excitement at the same time, practically bursting his eardrums. He’d never met best friends who couldn’t seem to go a day without spending time at each other’s houses. Not even Stiles and Scott had been quite so…eager. Though, he supposed, he hadn’t known them when they were younger. Derek hung up on James and took a seat by Stiles. 

“This is your fault. She gets it from you.” Stiles shrugged. 

“Not the first time you’ve said that. Besides, she’s half-Stilinski and we Stilinskis take our friendships seriously.” Derek rolled his eyes. 

“I’m pretty sure it’s a Stiles thing. Not a Stilinski thing.” Stiles thought. 

“Probably true.” 

The next game to be played—tag—was suggested by Caleb. Derek had a blast giving the kids a twenty second start before chasing them throughout the house. They were pretty fast, for kids so young. Derek still had to put a check on his speed, though, so he didn’t catch them right away. Dinner came all too quickly and so did bedtime. 

Derek lingered with each of the kids, not really wanting his time with them to end. He even loitered around Jocelyn, though the most she could do was coo, gurgle and fall asleep. He stayed up almost the entire night in companionable silence with Stiles. 

When midnight neared, he pulled Stiles along with him to their room and laid there for a few moments just looking at Stiles. Stiles didn’t seem to mind, smiling at the attention. Derek raised one hand to stroke Stiles’ face with his thumb. Stiles leaned into his touch. 

“Go to sleep, Derek,” Stiles said softly. Derek shook his head. 

“I don’t want to.” Stiles chuckled. He leaned over and gave Derek a gentle kiss that didn’t advance past lip-to-lip touch. 

“Go to sleep,” Stiles whispered, kissing his cheek and cradling Derek’s face with his hands. Derek kissed Stiles one last time, as chastely as Stiles had kissed him, before he drew back and fell asleep.

 

Derek woke up in his own bed, in his own time…alone. He’d grown accustomed to the presence of another body beside him while he was sleeping and felt disappointment settle in his chest at the lack of Stiles. He rolled onto his back and felt another quick stab of disappointment at the realization that, in his time, Scarlett and Caleb and James and Jocelyn didn’t exist. None of them had been born yet. 

They weren’t even a thought in anyone’s mind—anyone’s but Derek’s, that is. Not to mention that their parents in question likely weren’t even thinking of marriage or having children. Derek groaned and rubbed his hands down his face before shuffling to the shower. 

He’d barely changed into his fresh set of clothes when he heard noises downstairs. The pack had arrived. Derek jogged down the steps to see everyone standing in his living room. 

“Hey, Sourwolf. You ready for some supernatural business to take over our lives again?” Stiles asked with a smirk. 

“Stiles,” Derek muttered. Stiles quirked an eyebrow. 

“That is my name, yes.” He laughed. It turned to a yelp when Derek lunged towards him. Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles and pulled him flush against his body. Stiles was frozen. 

“Uh…guys? I think something’s wrong with Derek. He’s willingly hugging me.” Everyone else was staring, but Derek couldn’t bring himself to care. He pulled back. Stiles looked concerned. 

“Seriously, are you okay?” he asked. Derek smiled and nodded. 

“Never better,” he murmured. 

Then he pulled Stiles close again and kissed him like he’d been wanting to kiss Stiles—tongue and teeth and heat. Stiles was clearly surprised, but was only frozen for a few seconds before he started actively participating, curling one hand into the fabric of Derek’s shirt and wrapping the other around his neck. 

When Derek pulled back, Stiles leaned forward, as if he were chasing Derek’s lips. Stiles blinked rapidly, removing his hands from Derek’s body. He cleared his throat. 

“What was that about?” he asked. Derek smirked. 

“I just found out what my gift from the faeries is,” he said. Stiles frowned. 

“Uh…okay. You did?” he asked. Derek nodded. 

“And I want to tell you. Over dinner.” Stiles’ eyebrows shot upwards. 

“Are…did you just ask me out?” he asked. Derek tilted his head. 

“You have a problem with that?” Stiles sputtered, looking around at everyone else, as if looking for an answer. Finding none, he turned back to Derek. 

“Well…no, but—“ 

“I’ll pick you up at seven. Unless you’d rather go now.” Stiles stared at him, open-mouthed for several moments. He pressed his hand to Derek’s forehead. 

“Did you hit your head? Do you have a fever? Are you possessed?” he asked rapidly. Derek took Stiles’ hand and pressed a kiss to his palm, without losing eye contact. 

“I’m fine, Stiles. I want to take you on a date.” Stiles frowned. 

“But why?” he asked. Derek smiled, brushing his thumb over the back of Stiles’ hand. He remembered Stiles from the future and Scarlett, Caleb and Jocelyn. He remembered how happy he’d felt with a family to take care of and the worry he’d felt when Caleb had gotten hurt, when Scarlett had gone to play tag in the forest with James. He remembered Stiles’ smile and breakfasts. He couldn’t say ‘I love you’, not yet. 

So instead, he said, “Because my future is yours.”

**Author's Note:**

> And Stiles was hella confused, but he definitely wasn't going to say no to a date with Derek.
> 
> Derek didn't tell him everything--he just told Stiles what their gifts were. (Stiles asked a lot of questions, but Derek didn't answer any of them.)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked it--I was planning on writing more for this timeline, with the kids growing up and from their points of view, maybe love stories for the new generation, things like that. I will definitely write the stories for myself, because it's intriguing to me, but it depends on you guys for whether or not I upload it on the internet. 
> 
> :)


End file.
